We all have known and heard about this well-known scripture– “Abraham believed and it was accounted to him for righteousness”- Romans 4:3. I have always wondered, what was so special about Abraham’s faith? How was it? What was the nature of the faith which was accounted to him as righteousness of God and fulfilled the promise of God in his life? Can we as a lay person show faith like Abraham in our practical situations or is this grace limited to Abraham alone?

Here are few unique attributes of the faith of Abraham which makes it stand out and fetches him the righteousness & the promise of God in his life:

1. In hope he believed against hope
   Romans 4:18- “Contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken,..”

Here, we see there are two types of hope.

• A hope which is coming out of human reasoning, out of our anticipations keeping in view the present circumstances. This hope says that there is no hope at all. This is a negative expectation birthed out of focus on worldly situations/ problems.
• A hope which comes from the promise that God has given you. On knowing or remembering this promise, you tend to expect positively. This is the hope which comes from the Lord.

Here we must notice, Abraham chose to rely on the hope which comes from the Lord and not on the hope which resulted out of the world. He hoped in the fulfilment of the promises given to him against the hope (negative expectation) which arised out of human reasoning that he and Sarah were too old to bear fruit anymore.

Take away: We also, like Abraham must not at all lay our faith in the negative expectations. Like him, we must stubbornly oppose the human reasoning and the negative expectations arising from it. That’s one of major weapons of the enemy with which he tries to defeat us. But Abraham failed to be defeated, he plainly put aside all those reasoning and against the worldly hope, hoped in the Lord.

2. He did not change his decision of standing in faith, inspite of the negative situations around him. Romans 4:19- “And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead..”

Many times, we take a certain decision and if we see that the situations are not favouring or opposing our decision, we tend to give up and change our direction. But, Abraham was not like that. Around him were situations which screamed out to him saying it is impossible to see the promise being fulfilled, but he did not allow his faith to be weakened even a little because of those reasons. Abraham’s body was totally against the fulfilment of the promise. It was dead. Practically, it was an impossible situation but Abraham never considered or never bothered about the degree of impossibility. He gave a total deaf ear to them because he blindly trusted the God who promised Him.

Take away: There could be many things around you as well, which may cry out to you, saying that it is impossible thing to receive from the Lord. All that you have to do is – give a deaf ear to them. You know in what to lay your hope, hope in that and don’t let all these impossibilities even deter or weaken your faith in God. Show blind faith in God, like Abraham.

3. He sealed his heart against all unbelief & confusion. 
   Romans 4:20- “He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief”

No unbelief or distrust made him question or doubt God concerning the promise He gave to Abraham. Unbelief is a sin, which enters the moment we focus away from God. And Abraham was wise enough to protect himself from the sting of unbelief. Here, it must be observed that Abraham never lost track of continually knowing who God was. Before his eyes, was fixed the great and faithful image of God. He knew God so well that he had 100% confidence that the God who promised him, can never break the promise. As you know a person deeply, you tend to become more or less confident of whether he would be able to complete the given job. So, it is with God, the more you know Him, the lesser we tend to doubt Him. In this way, Abraham protected himself against all unbelief & distrust which could make him doubt God.

Take away: The key is the fellowship of God. The strength of your faith lies in the revelation of God you have. The more you know God personally, the less you would believe the enemy. The more you understand God & His ways, the clearer it becomes for you to identify and understand the deceptions and the tricks of Satan.  Immunity to the weapon of unbelief can be achieved solely by strengthening your relationship with God.

4. He became more confident in His approach & stood taller in his faith.
   Romans 4:20- “He was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God”

Abraham obeyed, acknowledged, thanked and did the will of God in the all the things he was told to (or he knew, he must do.) On doing this, he glorified God and God inturn filled Abraham with confidence that – what he was hoping for was right and that it would be surely fulfilled.

Take away: Many a times, we tend to sin against God and fail to obey Him in small things. That’s when we fail to give glory to God. As a consequence of which, guilt fills our heart which inturn brings fear in our mind that what we are asking for is wrong or we don’t deserve to receive from the Lord anymore. Instead of getting the confidence, we develop more fear in our hearts because we have drifted away from the Lord in our ways. So, start obeying and walking in the ways of God like Abraham. Then, God is going to fill you with the confidence to march forward – without which your faith cannot bring glory to God & neither can please Him.

5. Being fully convinced, Abraham already received the fulfilled promise in his heart.
   Romans 4:21- “and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform”

In God’s sight – the end result is not the fulfilment of the promise but to see His children becoming matured in faith towards Him. When we see the fulfilled promise with our eyes of faith (even before it physically happens), we then reach our maturity in faith fulfilling the ultimate purpose of God for us.On doing all the four previously mentioned points, Abraham gets 100% assurance, hope, joy and confirmation that the promise would be fulfilled not because he did something worthy but he knew that as he followed the steps of the Lord, he received the revelation of who God was. And, in this revelation was hidden the sure ability of God to keep His promise – no matter what happens.

Take away: The area of lack in your life, where you need to show faith like Abraham- is purposed by God for a greater reason. It is not just to take you closer to your miracle but to strengthen/ prepare you for a closer walk with God. So, the key is – to focus on the things of the Spirit & not on the things of the earth or your earthly matter of concern. When you do so, you let your inner man grow and thus reach your maturity in Spirit more quickly. And once that is achieved you would be clearly able to sense that your faith has already done the job!

That’s the way Abraham walked to receive from the Lord and that’s the way we are all called to do too. For the scripture guarantees- “Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham..” – Romans 4: 16

Amen.

God Bless You.
-Sis. Shruti